On Jul. 23, the Queks returned home to find their year-old infant crying in a "weird" manner.

Suspicious, they checked the CCTV in the home — and were horrified to find their foreign domestic worker (FDW) hitting their baby on the head with her knuckles.

"We saw blue-black (bruises) on our son before, but we thought it was an accident," the boy's father, who wanted to be known only as Mr Quek, told Mothership.

They called the police, but initially believed it was only a one-off incident.

It was only after going back to trawl the footage that they realised it'd been a regular occurrence.

"Every day, at least three to four times," Mr Quek said.

"She would hit his face whenever she didn't want to feed him his milk... one time we saw him with a cut on the eyebrow."

Video footage seen by Mothership revealed several instances of the foreign domestic worker slapping the baby, and the infant crying in response.

In one, the blow landed with an audible thwack.

His wife, Mrs Quek, told Mothership that the whole affair has been "traumatising".

"Because of her actions, she had caused me emotional pain... I'm not able to go to work as I couldn't sleep for the past two days," she said.

Very lenient

In the 11 months of the foreign domestic worker's employment, they have been "very lenient", Mr Quek said.

The couple hired her primarily to take care of their youngest son.

Mrs Quek would look after their older son, who is three, and they told her to prioritise the baby over the housework.

"She gets a lot of rest time... We don't want to be very strict, because we didn't want her to be unhappy," he said.

Her day typically began at 7am and ended at 8pm. At night, she slept with the baby and handled his night-time feedings, while the toddler slept with his parents — a decision the couple made as their older son was "very clingy and cried a lot".

"[When] we requested that she sleep with the baby, we compensated her with less housework...no need to cook, no need to make breakfast for us. Housework we would help to do," Mr Quek explained.

He added that she had rest time between 12pm and 5pm after completing the housework, while the children were away at childcare.

Mr Quek also observed that despite the domestic worker being the baby's primary caregiver, he would typically refuse to go to her, preferring his mother instead.

His wife added that the helper "broke [the trust] that we placed in [her]", and that as a result they are wary of hiring another foreign domestic worker in future despite needing the help.

The couple have since lodged a police report.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Police Force confirmed that a report was lodged and that investigations are ongoing.

Top image from Mr Quek